Gas process and product.



W. 0. SNELLING.

GAS PROCESS AND PRODUCT.

APPLIOATIOH rum mum, 1914.

Patented May 1.2, 191i MM WM WALTER O. SNELLING, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO CONSOLIDATED LIQUID GAS COMPANY, OFCHICAGO,

ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ARIZONA.

GAS PROCESS AND PRODUCT.

Specification o1 Letters Patent.

Patented May 12, 1914.

Application led March 9, 1914. Serial No. 823,505.

To all 'whom it may concern Be it known that I, WALTER O. SNELLING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gas P roce.sses and Products, of which the following is a specification. t

My invention comprises a new and improved method of storing acetylene; a new composition of matter involving acetylene gas mixed with one or more liquefied hydrocarbon ases of `the paraffin or saturated series an possesses among others, the obJects and advantages hereinafter stated.

More specifically my invention c ontemplates the mixing of acetylene gas with one or more liquefied hydrocarbon gases of the parait-in or saturated series whereby the acetylene is stored in a compact, safe, economical' and efficient fashion, and whereby a new gaseousproduct comprisinor an intimate mixture of acetylene with 2the hydrocarbon gases is produced.

My invention contemplates the solution of acetylene under pressure in a liquefied natural gas comprising one or more paraffin hydrocarbons held under pressure inl llquid form, whereby the solvent escapes with the acetylene and is combustible therewith.

' The advantages of the well known high illuminating properties of acetylene are to a large extent offset by the difliculties in handling this extremely explosive product in a safe and economical way. Two methods of storing compressed acetylene have heretofore been discovered, each of which, however, involves numerous disadvantages. According to one of these methods, the acetylone is pumped under high pressure into acetone. In comparison with pure compressed acetylenethis solution of acetylene in acetone is less dangerous. This method, however, is open to a serious objection. It is impossible to fill the container entirely full of acetone for the reason that the, acetone and acetylene when mixed occupy more space than the acetone itself. Therefore either at the beginning or at some time during the consumption of the' gas from the container, there is a space in the container above the liquid acetone and charged with compressed acetylene which is highly' explosive and makes the package dangerous to handle commercially.

Another method and one of wide use, is to first filln the container with some porous absorbent such as, for instance, asbestos or a mixture of charcoal and certain salts, secondly saturate this filling with acetone and then force in acetylene under pressure. If, however, this method is used and the porous absorbent does not completel fill the container, a space is left in which an explosive charge of acetylene gathers with results that may be very serious. Moreover the amount of acetylene which may be stored in this way is very small in comparison with the weight of the package and the package itself is costly on account of the peculiar requirements for its construction. It is never certain that such ay ackage does not contain some rift or pocret in the absorbent in which an explosive charge of acetylene may collect.

In both methods just described, the container must first be charged with acetone or with an absorbent and then with acetone, as the case may be and thereafter charged with acetylene under iressure. lene is drawn o the original contents of the container, i. e. acetone or acetone and absorbent, remain and thus it is evident that a given tank does not contain as much fuel as it would if the absorbent of the acetylene were capable itself of being used as a fuel.

It is an object of my invention to obviate the dangers and diiiiculties inherent in the present methods of using acetylene and to provide a means of storing acetylene in a safe and efficient manner.

It is another object of my invention to provide a gas having hi h illuminating and fuel properties and wit out the properties which make acetylene diflicult to use.

It is a still further object of my invention When the acety- I to provide a combustible liquid solvent for" acetylene which gasiies and burns withi y tially uniform pressure, as desired.

the acetylene. One form of service tank for storing and transporting my vnew mlxture for use as n n illuminant,' which may be employed, is?

shown" in. the accompanying drawings, though others having proper storage capacity, strength and va ve control may be employed, without departing fromv the spirit of my invention.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional View of a container suitable for use with my product. Fig. 2 is a detail sec- 15 tional View of a reducing valve which may or may not be used in connection with the container'shown in Fig. 1.

In the accompanying drawings, the reference numeral 10 indicates the body of the container into the top of which is secured a metal ,valve construction 11 having the outlet 12 and the safety device 13 to prevent the tank being disrupted under abnormal conditions. A pipe 14 leads from the lower portion of the metal valve to the bottom of the tank so that the fuell can be taken 0E constantly from a point-at or near the lowest part of the container, as desired.l 1

An ordinary reducing valve 15 shown in Fig. 2 may be attached either to the outlet pipe v12 or other convenient location to pro vide for releasing the gases undersubstan- When it is desired to fill the tank with my composition of matter, the hydrocarbon or ,hydrocarbons may be. first injected in the tank through `the opening 12 andlthen the acetylene later forced into it under pressure `through the same opening or the hydrocarf bons and acetylene may rst `be mixed and .thenv forced 'into the tank under pressure .through the same i opening' with substantially the same results, depending upon the convenience to the operator. l'

I have discovered that acetylene is miscible withor soluble in ethane,l propane and butane and any mixture of any two or all three of these hydrocarbons. I havefurther discovered thatif a small portion of the sosaid liquefied mixture under rassure in a storage tank, and in then wit drawing the Now by dissolving. acetylene ,in a

` weaver y liquefied mixture in minute quantities from ,the tank and allowing it to 1 vaporize or gasifyv las withdrawn, I can obtain from a storage tank of suitable construction, a continuous supply of gas having'substantially constantand unvarying composition. This g. gaseous mixture is admirably adapted to the purpose of. illumination.

" I find that my new mixture 'of acetylene i with ethane, propane and butane, in liquefied form, or with one or more of these hydrocarbons, is entirely free from the explosive properties possessed by compressed acetylene alone. The solvent which I use for acetylene has considerable vapor pressure at ordinary temperature, so that vif a container is initially partly filled with this liquid solvent, the space above the liquid before the acetylene isiforced in,will be occupied by the vapor of the solvent. When the acetylene is forced into the container. as by allowing it to'bubble through the liquid solvent,.some of it will rise above the solvent and 'appear in `gaseous form in the space above the liquid partly occu ied by t e vapor of the solvent. `Thus w 'en the container is partly filled with the mixture, there is some liquid and some vapor, but the solvent` is associated with the acetylene in both 'of these conditions. There is vno space in the container in whichthe solvent and the acetyleneare separate from one another. Rigorous tests have-shown that a mixture of acetylene and the new solvent is not explosive. It-is thus notat all necessary thatV the container for such a" mixture should be filled with absorbents such as'asbestos or charcoal, as was found necessary in the old tanks previously referred l to. Accordingly,v

tanks filled with acetylene dissolved in one or more of the paraffin hydrocarbons above mentioned, offer not only a perfectly safe ported for a given weights-of package. l Smce the solvent used by me issues from the container with the acetylene and as these invention; affords important advantages as follows: First,- snoethere is nothing 1n the container but fuel, the volume of the fuel in the container is greatl in excess of thatl which can be safely he dinacetylene con- 'can be burned together, the practicey of my. Y'

tainers of the, same size under the methods heretofore known. -Second, this improve ment effects av great reduction in the initial.4

cost of expensive'containers, as well as in.

their interestA and depreciation charge y'per L pound of fuelused. Third, transportation charges are materially reduced.

It isto-be` noted that for every pound of acetylene transported from the point of manufacture to the *l point ofI use, ".many

Cil

Y inthe case of ders.

'cured in great pounds of container, absorbent and solvent must be transported the same distance and back again. If the solvent itself, as Well as the acetylene can be used to supply light or heat, then the cost of transportation will be materially reduced per pound of fuel and,

my invention, this transportation charge will be reduced in three Ways, viz: (l) smaller weight of package, due to absence of solid absorbent upon which transportation must be paid for two trips every time the container is filled; (2) since solvent is burned up, its transportation need be paid for'l only one trip instead of two for each time the container is filled, and (3)`since the amount of fuelused is much increased in burning the solvent, as well as the acetylene, the transportation charge will be calculated upon the weight of both acetylene and solvent and thus again greatly reduced.

arious forms of apparatus may be employed in utilizing my new process of storing acetylene under pressure by causing it to bemixed with one or more of the hydrocarbons above described, namely, ethane, propane and butane in liquid form, and I have, therefore, deemed it unnecessary to illustrate and describe more than one form of Such apparatus. For instance, the acetylene and the solvent could be mixed together in a large tank provided with some suitable means for stirring or agitating the contents. The tank would first be partly filled with the solvent, and then the acetylene would be forced into the tank until a proper amount vhad been admitted and absorbed, the contents of the tank being in the meantime kept agitated, so as to insure a uniform mixture. The tank would then beready for the charging of automobile or other tanks or cylin- The mixture may also be made in the servicel tanks. Various other `methods of mixing and storing might also be used Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Another important advantage involved in my invention is that by it I can produce an illuminating agent having a fiame of great brilliancy with a minimum tendency to cause soot when burned from an appropriate jet ortip.

I have specifically mentioned ethane, ro pane and butane, as illustrative of the hyc rocarbons to be employed for the reason that these are the principal hydrocarbons of natural gas which may be liquefied andfheld in containers under pressure practicable for storage and shipping purposes as liquefied gases, yet Which are gaseous at normal temperatures and atmospheric pressure, and these are the compounds which can be pronantity and which have the properties suitable for use as solvents for and to mix with acetylene.

1. The process of storing acetylene under pressure in a suitable container, which consists in first partially filling said container with liquefied hydrocarbon of the paraf'lin series and then forcing acetylene into said liquefied hydrocarbon and causing the acetylene and said hydrocarbon to become thoroughly mixed.

2. The process of storing acetylene under pressure in a suitable container, which consists in first partially filling said container with a mixture of hydrocarbons of the parafiin series held by pressure in liquefied form and then forcin acetylene into said liquefied mixture of hy rocarbons and causingA the acetylene and said liquefied hydrocarbons to become thoroughly mixed.

3. The process of storing acetylene under pressure in a suitable container, which consists in first partially filling said container with propane, butane and ethane in liquefied form, and then forcing acetylene into the liquefied gas and causing the acetylene and the liquefied gas" to become thoroughly mixed.

4. The method of storingacetylene under pressure in a suitable container, which con` sists in first partially filling said container with a mixture of liquefied propane and another hydrocarbon of the paraffin series, and then forcing acetylene into said mixture of hydrocarbons and causing the acetylene and said liquefied hydrocarbons to become thoroughly mixed.

5. A closed receptacle containing under pressure a mixture of acetylene and liquefied hydrocarbon of the parailin series, said hydrccarbon becoming vaporized upon being released from the receptacle and escaping with the acetylene to form a gaseous mixture therewith, and means for controlling the release of the said mixture from its receptacle.

6. A closed receptacle containing under pressure a mixture of acetylene and a liquefied hydrocarbon solvent which upon release of pressure becomes vaporized and escapes with the acetylene to form a gaseous mixture therewith.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a gas package comprising a holder or tight vessel, a contained charge of one or more of the hydrocarbons of the paraffin series, acetylene mixed with the liquefied hydrocarbon, an outlet for the gas package and means for controlling the outlet whereby acetylene and the liquefied hydrocarbon may be taken off simultaneously from the package to form a uniformgaseous mixture, substantially as set forth.

8. In an apparatus for storing and delivering gas, a vessel containing a supersaturated solution of acetylene and one or more liquefied hydrocarbons 4oli .the paran series under pressure,

n into said vessel to the point near the bottom thereof through which themixture of acetylene and llquefled hydrocarbon may esczpe or be forced into controlling the flow of the said mixture into or out of said vessel.

WALTER o. sNELL-ING. i

an outlet pipe extending Witnesses A. J. PHILLIPS, M. 2K. WILLIAMS.

the vessel, and a valve 

